2020 Annual Review
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2020 SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR: GLOBAL INITIATIVES IN REVIEW SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR GLOBAL INITIATIVES 2020 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a renowned spiritual leader and global humanitarian whose mission of uniting the world into a violence-free, stress-free, global family has inspired millions of people to broaden their share of responsibility and serve society. Sri Sri has devised practical tools and techniques that help individuals achieve calmness of mind and clarity of thought. Such a state of mind empowers individuals to achieve their goals and instills a sense of service and greater connectedness with humanity. In 1981, Sri Sri established The Art of Living Foundation, an educational organization with a presence in over 156 countries. The Foundation’s individual development programs offer powerful tools to eliminate stress and foster a sense of well-being. In 1997, Sri Sri founded the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), a humanitarian organization, which promotes societal responsibility and human values in political, economic and social spheres. IAHV and The Art of Living Foundation collaborate on several humanitarian initiatives, including conflict resolution, disaster and trauma relief, environmental conservation, anti-corruption, prisoner rehabilitation, youth leadership, women’s empowerment and universal education. Both organizations enjoy special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. SRISRIRAVISHANKAR.ORG i SRISRIRAVISHANKAR SRISRI SRISRI 2020 SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR: GLOBAL INITIATIVES IN REVIEW 2020 IN REVIEW There are those who are stuck in time, there are those who flow with time, and there are those who change the time, and there are yet others who surpass the time, go beyond the time and realize that the whole universe is nothing but One Eternal Life. Ushering into 2019 with a special message from Gurudev Service in a pandemic year online and offline with on-ground relief work, Boone, USA, Jan. 1 daily online meditations, and heartfelt and insightful interactions with people from diverse For the last 40 years, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar sections of society. The interactions showed has been traveling, sharing his insights on world ways to face the pandemic and its aftermath, and problems, and taking the message of strengthening brought out insights that can shape policies and the individual with inner peace across the globe. guiding principles of leaders across the world. This year of restricted movement, uncertainty, and anxiety saw Gurudev reaching out to millions 1 CREATING A VIOLENCE-FREE, STRESS-FREE SOCIETY 2020 IN REVIEW Covid-19 relief work Recognizing the most vulnerable population during the coronavirus lockdown, the daily wage earners and migrant laborers, Gurudev launched the campaign ‘iStandwithhumanity’ on March 25, just a few days after the announcement of the lockdown. In India, there are an estimated 121 million daily wage laborers, according to an International Labour Organization (ILO) study. This is the category of people most affected by the lockdown - without food, shelter, or the means to make a living. The iStandwithhumanity campaign reached out to daily wage workers with relief material that could help them sustain themselves during the lockdown period. The Indian film and TV fraternity also joined the initiative in huge numbers. The campaign reached 75,122,069 meals and other essentials to over 2.5 million families in India. 430,200 JAMMU & KASHMIR “I call upon those who can, to take 372,857 HIMACHAL PRADESH 2,070,500 304,857 PUNJAB a pay cut and form endowments UTTARAKHAND 434,686 28,41,000 44,600 HARYANA 1,000 ARUNACHAL 1,644,300 PRADESH 1,284,300 NEW DELHI together to take care of daily wage 191,300 SIKKIM UTTAR PRADESH RAJASTHAN ASSAM NAGALAND 14,641,000 BIHAR MEGHALAYA 122,000 workers & low income groups in your MANIPUR TRIPURA JHARKHAND GUJARAT MIZORAM MADHYA WEST 87,208 550,000 PRADESH BENGAL areas so that the economic burden is CHHATTISGARH 101,550 3,752,440 36,148,000 ODISHA shared by society locally. Let's give MAHARASHTRA 138,770 TELANGANA the assurance that there is enough 126,000 1,236,440 GOA ANDHRA 724,500 PRADESH humanity to take care of everyone.” 6,202,186 KARNATAKA 356,075 TAMIL 770,000 NADU 546,300 KERALA 2 2020 SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR: GLOBAL INITIATIVES IN REVIEW Our story of worldwide • Distributed 25,000 PPE to healthcare workers in New York City and also Covid-19 relief in numbers helped people in financial distress Africa • Raised funds to provide food and supplies • Over 25,000* people benefited to the daily wage earners in India • South Africa - Over 3,000* people reached • Conducted daily breathing and meditation sessions, multiple times a day, in English and • Kenya - Distribution of supplies to Spanish for the public including school children 200 underprivileged families and educators, to deal with stress and anxiety • Uganda - 300,000 Uganda Shillings donated for food with free regular online meditations India • Provided 75,122,069 meals & other Germany essentials to over 2.5 million families • Over 5,000* people benefited • Conducted online Art of Living programs weekly. Over 100 million impressions since Mauritius launch for Sri Sri’s daily live meditation • Over 300 food packets distributed • Upgraded 7 government hospitals for COVID-19. • 500 families provided groceries for 12 days Pune(3), Odisha(1), Bangalore(1) & Hyderabad(1) • Donated 9,000 cloth masks to TMC*1 Latin America 2 • Over 10,000* people benefited • Donated 7 swab booths to PMC* • 115 people in the first online trauma relief program • Distributed 50,000 PPE kits & N95 masks to health workers • Paraguay - Over 3,000* people • Provided weekly ration & marketing support for 3,00,000 tribal artisans through TRIFED*3 Malaysia • Over 6,000* people benefited Nepal • Food supplied to over 8,000 families Australia * estimated number (as of April 15, 2020) of people • Over 1,000* people benefited benefiting from various online sessions of yoga, meditation, and other Art of Living and IAHV initiatives. United States of America *1 Thane Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra, India • Partnered with Children’s National Hospital to provide free workshops for *2 Pune Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra, India all United States healthcare workers *3 The Tribal Cooperative Marketing 3 CREATING A VIOLENCE-FREE, STRESS-FREE SOCIETY 2020 IN REVIEW Development Federation of India breath in these online workshops. Covid-19 patients also found mental relief with these workshops. On-ground volunteers share heartwarming experiences People share experiences of meditations with Gurudev “With a curfew pass, we’ve been providing a 10-day ration to slums in Chandigarh and “I have looked forward to these meditations Mohali. Many are migrant workers stuck every day especially because the lockdown here. More than food, they need assurance time was very frustrating for me as I was that somebody has their back and we are cooking, cleaning, and working at home - alone. assuring them that.” - Akash, Chandigarh The meditations gave me a lot of peace.” - “Of course, the situation is charged with Vanditaa Kothari, Content Writer, India anxiety and concern. But I remember, once we were distributing food parcels Wisdom during the lockdown: in one area and those families blessed A 20-episode series titled us so much. It is heartening to see that #OpenUpInLockdown humanity prevails, and we will conquer the crisis.” - Anshul Bhatia, Kanpur Bringing mental relief to masses Masses experience the power of breath Gurudev conducted daily online meditations during the India lockdown, bringing together millions from across the world to meditate. He conducted Gurudev shared inspiration and wisdom in 20 meditations twice a day for the first 60 days of the episodes in a series titled #OpenUpInLockdown. lockdown. He also led unique meditations every With his hallmark sincerity and humor, Gurudev day for 21 days as a part of the 21-day meditation touched a variety of topics including anger challenge, an initiative to encourage people from management, fatigue, uncertainty, spirituality, and across the world to embrace meditation. overcoming negative habits in this series. Gurudev also imparted special wisdom for people struggling The Art of Living also re-packaged its leading with the effects of the lockdown. program, the Happiness Program into an online consumable format: the Online Breath & Meditation Workshop. Millions experienced the power of the 4 2020 SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR: GLOBAL INITIATIVES IN REVIEW Outreach during the pandemic Africa meditates • Dr. Adriane Marais, South African theoretical physicist, technologist • Juliet Nambi Namuddu, Director, Education & Social Services, Kampala Capital City Authority • Paddy Upton, Head Coach, professional T20 cricket • Prof. Salim S Abdul Karim, epidemiologist iMeditate Africa is an annual campaign held during the month of May which is also known as the Africa • Prof. Adam Habib, Vice Chancellor, month. It is a month dedicated to commemorating University of Witwatersrand the founding of the organization of the African unity. • Kumi Naidoo, South African Human The annual campaign organized by The Art of Living Rights & Environmental activist is dedicated to promote peace and prosperity in the continent through meditation and dialogue. The • Manhar Mooney, businessman, Botswana center of the campaign is a guided online meditation by Gurudev, which millions across the continent and • Prof. Fred McBagonluri, President & globe participate in every